CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2017-8540

HIGHCISA KEVEPSS 99th pctl
7.8
CVSS v3
NVD

Description

The Microsoft Malware Protection Engine running on Microsoft Forefront and Microsoft Defender on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows 10 Gold, 1511, 1607, and 1703, and Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and 2016, does not properly scan a specially crafted file leading to memory corruption. aka "Microsoft Malware Protection Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability", a different vulnerability than CVE-2017-8538 and CVE-2017-8541.

How to fix

Remediation Available
malware protection engineNVD
Affected:>= 1.1.13701.0, < 1.1.13704.0Fixed in:1.1.13704.0CVE-2017-8540derived from NVD

TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

71.96%probability of exploitation in 30 days
99thpercentile

Very high risk: more likely to be exploited than 99% of all known CVEs.

Known Exploited Vulnerability (CISA KEV)

Microsoft Malware Protection Engine Improper Restriction of Operations Vulnerability

The Microsoft Malware Protection Engine running on Microsoft Forefront and Microsoft Defender on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows 10 Gold, 1511, 1607, and 1703, and Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and 2016, does not properly scan a specially crafted file leading to memory corruption. aka "Microsoft Malware Protection Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability".

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Remediation due: 2022-03-24

References

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVESeverityCVSSEPSSExploitedFix
CVE-2025-22457Critical9.0100%KEV + RansomFix
CVE-2025-0282Critical9.0100%KEV + Ransom-
CVE-2015-3113Critical9.8100%KEVFix
CVE-2021-20038Critical9.8100%KEV + Ransom-
CVE-2023-4863High8.8100%KEVFix
CVE-2020-16040Medium6.5100%-Fix
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-04-22.